DON BOSCO CHURCH VADODARA

– The 10-minute video published by Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell talks about who is to blame for climate change and who should take responsibility for its consequences.

– In 2017, humans emitted about 36 billion tons of CO₂. More than 50% came from Asia. North America and Europe followed with 18% and 17%. While Africa, South America, and Oceania together only contributed eight percent. China is by far the world's largest emitter with 27% of global emissions. Next is India at 7%, Russia at 5% and Japan at 3%.

– Although all countries agree on decreasing collective CO₂ emissions in principle, the developed countries point at their own efforts to reduce emissions, and the fact that the large developing countries on the rise, are currently releasing much more CO₂.

– Historically, CO₂ emissions have been closely tied to a high standard of living. Wealth is one of the strongest indicators of our carbon footprint. We see that the richest half of countries are responsible for 86% of global emissions and the bottom half for only 14%.

– Many of today's richest countries are in a convenient position. But their country's annual emissions are now dwarfed by other countries, because China is finally catching up, and other giants like India are on their way.

– The richest countries have the resources, highly educated workforces, and technology to develop low-cost, low-carbon solutions and spread them around the world.

– This doesn't absolve others of their responsibility. Climate change is a global problem, and no country alone can fix it. Everybody needs to do the best they can, and right now we are all not doing that. But we can begin today.